


A Child is Only a Moment

by Moonrose91



Series: Gift Verse [22]
Category: Marvel (Movies)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-15
Updated: 2012-09-15
Packaged: 2017-11-14 08:55:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/513494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonrose91/pseuds/Moonrose91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moments, stolen or otherwise, are fleeting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Child is Only a Moment

Elizabeth smiled as she found herself being pushed through the nearby park by Steve.

While she couldn’t run with the other kids, she could go enjoy the outside and they sat out of the way. Steve was slowly, but surely, learning sign language, even after Elizabeth had told him that he didn’t need to.

Of everyone, she could read his lips the easiest, but the fact he insisted on learning made Elizabeth realize he was someone worthy of being her mama’s idolized hero.

If he wasn’t, Elizabeth would have had to fix that.

Steve is showing her how he enjoys feeding the pigeons when she _feels_ the world still around her. Steve stops mid-movement and she tightens her grip on Nafu, feeling the dragon shift under her hands. She watches a man, dressed in green and leather armor. He had a cape and he strode quietly along, as if he was used to slinking through shadows but wished to walk through the light.

Nothing moved and he stepped into the bubble that kept her moving.

 _Hello, Elizabeth,_ the man signed and she tensed at the fact he knew her name.

_No, no. I promise, I will never harm you on purpose. A moment of your time?_

Elizabeth waved her hand around and he smiled, maybe he laughed. While Mama laughed so his whole body trembled faintly, and Daddy laughed with his throat exposed, she hadn’t learned how anyone else laughed yet.

_Your bodyguard would have shot me first and never let me close to you. A moment?_

Elizabeth tapped her fingers against Nafu’s side and the man’s eyes slid down, smiling faintly.

A memory filled smile.

A smile that was filled with regret, and a wish.

 _Okay,_ she signed and gave a wave to the wheelchair.

The long-limbed man immediately walked around and reached down to unlock the wheels, and began to push her through the still world.

They couldn’t have a conversation, but she had a feeling he was talking anyway.

He stopped them out of the way.

_You’ll take me back, right?_

_As you wish._

The man’s fingers _danced_ , which fascinated Elizabeth. He sighed and considered before he suddenly produced a book from nowhere. She stared a bit and he carefully handed it to her.

 _Consider it a late birthday present,_ he explained.

Elizabeth stared at the book and she looked up at him, curious but undemanding.

_Let’s just say I have a soft spot for children. I can never bring one harm intentionally. It goes against all that I am._

_So…you’re like the scorpion in that tale?_

The man hesitated and gave a nod. He did not correct her, which made her think he was far more dangerous then he made himself out to be.

She ran her hands over the book, the words twisting as she looked until she could read it.

_Thank you._

The man smiled and merely nodded. He then glanced around and gave an apology, before suddenly disappearing.

The stillness evaporated around her and Elizabeth scowled darkly.

The next time she saw that man, if she had full capabilities, she was kicking him in the shin.

* * *

“What do you mean she just _disappeared?_ ” Clint shouted, and Phil looked up from where he was working.

He couldn’t hear Captain Rogers’s response, but it obviously seemed to irritate Clint further. “Just…I’ll be over there in a minute,” Clint stated and hung up.

“You should really say ‘bye’ when you do that,” Phil responded.

“Why are you not panicked about Elizabeth suddenly just _disappearing?_ As in being _there a second ago_ and _gone the next?_ ” Clint shouted.

“Because it will do no good to get angry and yell at my husband who can’t do anything from an office,” Phil answered dryly and Clint let out a long sigh.

“Go. Keep me updated. Don’t kill anyone and leave them mentally intact,” Phil stated.

“I can give you the first three. The last one is up for debate,” Clint muttered as he left and Phil just focused on his work.

After rereading the same line for the twentieth time, he gave up and buried his head in his hands, just barely keeping from tightening his grip into his hair.

He’d be bald soon if he kept it up.

His phone rang ten minutes later and he picked up.

“Agent Coulson,” he greeted.

 _“She’s in the grassy knoll, on the smooth stone path, under the blue lamppost. I thought you would appreciate the irony,”_ Loki stated and hung up.

Phil could barely get his heart restarted or his body unfrozen enough to dial Clint and tell him where to find Elizabeth.

He wasn’t looking forward to the debriefing.

**Author's Note:**

> I like this one.
> 
> Basically, the plot-seed I had planted _way_ back is finally starting to bud.
> 
> And then I get to have it bloom, which will be fun.


End file.
